Wad for shotgun shells



Jan. 7, 1969 H. 5. REMPEL 3,420,178

WAD FOR SHOTGUN SHELLS Filed March 9, 1967 Jun-m?! INVENIOR HENRY G.R'MPEL www, M, M

United States Patent 3,420,178 WAD FOR SHOTGUN SHELLS Henry GeorgeRempel, 4207 Fraser St., Vancouver 10, British Columbia, Canada FiledMar. 9, 1967, Ser. No. 621,961 U.S. Cl. 102-95 7 Claims Int. Cl. F42b7/08 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This application relates to a new andimproved wad for shotgun shells. As is well known, shoutgun shellsrequire wadding of some sort to keep the powder in place and ensure thatwhen the shell is fired, the explosion of the powder will be transmittedproperly to the shot pellets and will force the latter forward towardthe muzzle for a proper discharge of the shotgun.

Many kinds of wads have been manufactured in the past of variousmaterials such as paper, cotton, wool and plastic. Such wads areordinarily made in specific sizes corresponding tothe main shell sizes,10, 12, 16, .410 and 20 gauge which cover a bore diameter size rangefrom 0.775 inch to 0.410 inch.

It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a universalwad in the sense that it may be used with all principal types of shotgunshells, high inner base shells and low inner base shells and allvariations in between.

Another object is to provide an improved wad which in addition toaccomplishing the foregoing objects provides for improved discharge ofthe shot pellets with a minimum of scattering.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from a reading of thepresent specification and the appended claims, and will be apparent to aperson familiar with firearms and ammunition of the kind underdiscussion.

Although the definition of the present invention is to be'taken from areading of the appended claims, it may be stated that the presentinvention provides an improved wad consisting of a combination of twoprincipal members, an outer member and an inner member adapted to bearranged one inside the other; the construction of the said members issuch that depending on the position of the inner member inside the outermember, the total wad can be made to adapt to all principal kinds ofshotgun shells as aforesaid, high and low inner base shells. At the sametime the wad can be made in all diameters of ordinarily-used shells inaddition to providing other advantages.

The present invention will now be described by way of example withreference to the accompanying drawings.

In the accompanying drawings,

FIGURE 1 shows a cross-sectional view of a shotgun shell in which a wadmade in accordance with the present invention has been fitted, theshotgun shell shown being, apart from the wad, quite conventional;

FIGURE 2 shows a cross-sectional view of the wad by itself;

FIGURE 3 shows a further cross-sectional view of the wad in which thereis a juxtaposition of the two principal elements as compared with FIGURE2;

FIGURE 4 shows a partly cross-sectional view of the outer part of thewad;

FIGURE 5 shows a top plan view of that part of the wad as illustrated inFIGURE 4 looking downwardly upon FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 6 shows a bottom or reverse plan view of that part of the wadillustrated in FIGURE 4 looking upwardly toward FIGURE 4;

FIGURES 7, 8 and 9 are the same kind of views as FIGURES 4, 5 and 6respectively, only they illustrate the inner part of the wad;

FIGURE 7 shows a partly cross-sectional view of the inner part of thewad;

FIGURE 8 shows a top plan view of that part of the wad as illustrated inFIGURE 7 looking downwardly upon FIGURE 7;

FIGURE 9 shows a bottom or reverseplan view of that part of the wadillustrated in FIGURE 7 looking upwardly toward FIGURE 7;

FIGURE 10 shows a somewhat exaggerated crosssectional view of the wad toillustrate the manner in which the wad is deformed so as to be adaptableto diflerent shotgun shell diameters.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings wherein the same referencenumerals denote like parts in all figures, and referring first to FIGURE1, a shotgun shell of conventional construction, apart from the wad ofthe present invention is shown generally at 1. Shotgun shell 1 has aconventional base 2, which in this example is shown with a low innerbase. The priming cap 3 is in the center of base 2. The side wall is at4 of the usual hollow cylindrical construction. The propellant charge isat 5 and is typically smokless powder. The wad in accordance with thisinvention is shown at 6 and will be further described below. The shotpellets denoted as 7 are kept in place by the closed end of the shelldenoted as 8. As stated previously, every element described up to thepresent time, except for wad -6 are perfectly conventional.

The construction of the wad 6 can be understood with particularreference to the remainder of the drawings, FIGURES 2-10. FIGURE 2illustrates the elements of wad 6 in some detail as seen in longitudinalmedial crosssection, and as will be seen there are two main components,an outer hollow element rather resembling a tumbler with a thick bottom,which will be referred to as outer cup 10. Inside the latter element isa component somewhat similar in appearance to outer cup 10 but of lesserlength and of smaller size so that it fits inside outer cup 10, denotedherein as inner cup 11.

Outer cup 10 has a base of which the extreme lower surface isparticularly shown in FIGURES 4 and 6 denoted herein as end 12. End 12of outer cup 10 has a relatively deep annular groove running therearoundfairly close to its periphery denoted by 13. The effect of groove 13 isto provide a pressure skirt whereby the exploding powder charge adjacentend 12 creates gas which enters groove 13 and pushes the extremitiesoutwardly so as to cause wad 6 to grip tightly upon the inside of wall 4of shotgun shell 1. A gripping effect of the kind described is known inthe firearm art but chiefly in relation to projectiles-the so-calledMini effect whereby a projectile is caused to expand outwardly so as togrip tightly upon the inside of the bore of a firearm during discharge.

End 12 is thin in cross-section except in the region of groove 13 andwhere strengthening ribs are provided at 14 seen particularly in FIGURE5, the latter for the obvious purpose of making the wad 6 as strong aspossible with a minimum of material.

Extending outwardly of end 12 of outer cup 10 on the same side of end 12as ribs 14 is a cylindrical flange denoted by 15 of typical lengthapproximately twice the diameter of outer cup 10. The external surfaceof flange 15 is cylindrical in the sense that it is of uniform diameterfrom one end to the other insofar as this can be accomplished bystandard manufacturing methods. The inside of flange is not, however, ofuniform inside diameter but the inside diameter increases from left toright as seen in FIGURE 2 to provide a distinct thickness taper forflange 15. That is, the flange 15 tapers in thickness from left to rightas seen in FIGURE 2 becoming thinner in that direction. A taper ofapproximately 3 along the length of flange 15 is typically used.

It is contemplated that inner cup 11 will be moved within outer cup 10and a consequence of this along with the taper just referred to is thatflange 15 of outer cup 10 caused to expand, and this assists inaccommodating whatever internal diameter of shotgun shell may be used.In addition, the flexibility of the flange 15 is such that the tightlypacked shot pellet 7 aids in such expansion. To liberate the shot to beexpelled in a body from the wad it has been found desirable that flange15 shall have slots such as are denoted by 16 running approximately halfthe length of flange 15. Four slots arranged in quadrature asparticularly shown in FIGURE have been found to be a satisfactoryarrangement.

Although exact dimensions are subject to variation and keeping in mindthat the purpose of the device described controls to a large extent thesize, it has been found satisfactory if the dimensions of outer cup 10are as follows:

Inches Overall length 1.375 Overall width 0.720 Inside diameter offlange at open end 0.670 Inside diameter of flange 15 at closed end0.650 Length of slot 16 0.625 Width of slot 16 Referring now to innercup 11 particularly shown in FIGURES 7, 8 and 9, the inner cup 11consists of a cylindrical flange 20 which is of uniform outsidediameter. Inside cylindrical flange 20 is wall 21 closing the cylinderformed by cylindrical flange 20 at a position approximately a third ofthe distance along the length of cylindrical flange 20, as seen from thebottom of FIG- URE 7.

While the outside of inner cup 11 is of uniform diameter, the inside isnot necessarily uniform, and from the standpoint of moulding inner cup11, it is preferable if the inside surfaces shown at 22 and 23 beslightly tapered. However, this feature is not of special importance andall that is required is substantial uniform inside diameter and arelatively thin cylindrical flange 20.

Wall 21 is perforated by a small centrally-located hole at 25, thepurpose of which is to allow air to escape when two units are puttogether. Wall 21 has rib members 24 somewhat similar to ribs 14 ofouter cup 10 already referred to.

As in the case of outer cup 10, dimensions are subject to variation. Byway of example an inner cup 10 to fit the dimensions set forth above forouter cup 10 have been found satisfactory:

Inches Overall length 0.705 Overall width 0.672

Distance from upper side of inner cup 11, as seen in FIGURE 7 to upperedge at extreme top as seen in FIGURE 7 0.450 Size of hole 25 FIGURES 2and 3 show how outer cup 10 and inner cup 11 fit together. FIGURE 3 isvery similar to FIG- URE 2 except that inner cup 11 is reversed inlongitudinal position. FIGURE 2 represents the relative positions ofouter cup 10 and inner cup 11 when wad 6 is to be used with high innerbase shells, while FIGURE 3 represents the relative positions of outercup 10 and inner cup 11 for use with low inner base shells. FIGURE 1illustrates a high inner base shell, and as will be seen the wad 6 is inFIGURE 1 as shown in FIGURE 2. The object is to have wall 21 at roughlythe same distance from either end 'of the shell regardless of whetherthe shell is high base or low base and it will be seen that this isaccomplished by the present invention.

The gripping action of wad 6 is important in either position. It will beobvious that having regard to the pressure of shot 7 as well as thetaper of the inside diameter of outer cup 10, outer cup 10 can be causedto bulge and have its outside diameter increased in a region of outercup 10 depending on the position of inner cup 11.

The distortion of outer cup 10 contributing to the gripping action ofwad 6 is shown in exaggerated form in FIGURE 10 wherein outer cup 10 isnow represented by cup and wherein the taper of the inside isexaggerated. The inner cup 11 is now shown as inner cup 111. The effectof the pressure of shot 7 should not be overlooked in achieving thegripping action referred to.

As may be seen, as inner cup 111 is moving in a downward direction asseen in FIGURE 10, outer cup 110 is caused to bulge as at 113 therebyincreasing. the outside diameter of the wad 6, and the effect is similarwhether outer cup 10 and inner cup 11 are in the relative positionsshown in FIGURE 2 or 3.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A wad for shotgun shells comprising an outer cup member and an innercup member, the outer cup member comprising a first hollow cylinderhaving internal and external cylindrical surfaces and a base closing oneend of said cylinder, the inner cup member comprising a second hollowcylinder having internal and external cylindrical surfaces and apartition member disposed internally of said second member at a positioncloser to one end of said second cylinder than to the opposite endthereof, whereby said second cylinder is divided into two chambers ofunequal volume, the relative dimensions of the internal cylindricalsurface of said outer cup member and the external cylindrical surface ofsaid inner cup member being such that the two said surfaces have asliding fit therebetween, whereby the inner cup member may be assembledin said outer cup member with either end of the inner cup memberadjacent the base of the outer member providing wads of alternativevolumes.

2. A wad for shotgun shells according to claim 1 wherein said partitionmember disposed internal-1y of said second member is located at adistance from one end of said second cylinder equivalent to aboutonethird of the total length of said second cylinder.

3. A wad for shotgun shells according to claim 1 wherein said base ofsaid outer cup member ha crossribbed reinforcing means.

4. A wad for shotgun shells according to claim 1 adapted to be usedinside a cylindrical shotgun shell casing wherein said base of the outercup member has an annular groove adjacent the periphery of said basecapable of being pushed outwardly by the force of an explosiontherebehind to provide to provide an improved seal with said cylindricalshotgun shell casing.

5. A wad for shotgun shells according to claim 1 wherein the partitionmember of the inner cup member has cross-ribbed reinforcing means.

6. A wad for shotgun shells according to claim 1 wherein said outer cupmember has a plurality of grooves extending from the edge of said outercup member remote from said base to substantially the mid-point of saidouter cup member.

7. A wad for shotgun shells according to claim 1 wherein thesubstantially cylindrical inner surface .of said 5 6 outer cup member istapered so that the diameter de- 3189 586 12/1966 Horn et a1 102-42creases toward the base whereby insertion of the inner 3,309,994 3/1967Lage 102--95 X cup member into the outer cup member causes the outer cupmember to bulge outwardly. FOREIGN PATENTS 5 1,187,370 3/1959 France.References Cited 1,190,140 3/1959 France.

1,262,557 4/1961 France. UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,384,067 11/1964 France.3,211,100 10/1965 Clark 102-95 3,270,669 9/1966 Atkins et a1. 10242ROBERT F. STAHL, Primary Examiner.

